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African American artists showcased at the Pence Gallery

Arts Editor
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Upstairs in the Pence Gallery, tranquility kisses the walls but as you move downstairs, the mood drifts like leaves. One floor down, loud colors and a beautiful woman dressed in haute couture fill the lower showroom.

Calm and boisterous fine art debut Tuesday at the Pence Gallery, located at 212 D St. Cultural Dimensions: Art by African American Artists is a rich collection of fine arts from 10 of the most prominent local African American artists in the Sacramento area.

“Upstairs is very tranquil,“ said Eileen Hendren, assistant director of the Pence Gallery. “It feels like a dream sequence and it‘s very calm. Downstairs, there are big bright statements. They are giant images.“

Along with gallery assistant Christopher Beer, Hendren worked to match the many works for the exhibit. According to Hendren, the gallery wanted to find a balance between the different works: The top floor conveys a sense of serenity with its abundance of landscape pieces while the larger works reside downstairs.

“We wanted to give each piece their own breathing area,“ Hendren said.

The Pence Gallery was lured by the depth of local talent and wanted to showcase them in one exhibit. The artists showcased in Cultural Dimensions are John Nesbitt, John King, Corrine Singleton, Gerry Simpson, Milton Bowens, Michael Stevenson, Norma Lamb, Terry Turner, Daniel Frye and Sharaine Bell.

“Normally, you don‘t see all these artists,“ Hendren said. “You might have to go to 10 different galleries but now they are all in one place here.“

Bell graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute, and now makes her home in the heart of the San Francisco art scene in the Mission District. However, the Davis-born artist was excited to have her first showcase in her hometown. Drawing inspiration from her passion for the environment and nature, Bell gets her ideas from the many walks in the city.

“I am inspired by the imbalance of civilization,“ Bell said. “We create an environment that is not always in line with the natural world. We seem to think we can manipulate nature. It doesn‘t work that way. We are doomed to fail unless we adhere to what nature needs.“

Downstairs, Bell will have her painting “Bryant,“ which is composed of four panels to create one large piece. Showcased upstairs is “Twentieth,“ a painting of willow leaves on a white canvas doused with coffee.

Other works include three bronze sculptures from Davis resident Singleton, who has been an art teacher for over 20 years in Citrus Heights. Mixing her love of art with her passion for fashion, she got an early taste for fashion from her childhood and modeled one of her bronze figures after French entertainer Josephine Baker.

The figure of Josephine Baker is conspicuously without facial features –a feature that was a deliberate move on the artist‘s part. Singleton said she hopes to challenge people’s imaginations as they look at her sculptures.

“I don‘t know how she looks,“ Singleton said. “But just use your imagination. You can put someone in the dress. I like anyone with an imagination.“

The exhibit of fine arts will be at the Pence Gallery until Aug. 22. The Pence Gallery is located at 212 D St. A reception will be held Friday at 7 p.m. with a live jazz performance by the local band Lambazz. For more information, go to pencegallery.org.

 

JACKSON YAN can be reached at arts@californiaaggie.com.

CD Review: LP3

Arts Editor
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Ratatat

LP3

Beggars X

Rating: 3

 

As long as you don‘t expect Daft Punk, you shouldn‘t be too disappointed. The third album from electro duo Ratatat isn‘t as rousing and danceable as one would hope and is generally reminiscent of car commercial background music. That being said, LP3 and its exotic, fluttery beats are hard to dislike.

In general, the album feels airy and lively, incorporating a diverse range of sounds including the harpsichord and zither. For the most part, the meticulously produced beats fail to make me want to get up and dance, but it did make me want to sit and listen.

The best tracks incorporate international sounds that are vaguely non-western but hard to pin down. With its varied keyboard effects “Mumtaz Khan“ has something of a Middle Eastern feel, while “Blulee“ sounds like it was recorded on a windswept beach on some faraway island – Caribbean, maybe? “Gipsy Threat“ has a mysterious, perhaps Eastern European rhythm that sounds eerie and foreboding.

One of my favorites is the colorful “Shempi,“ a fast, dizzying blend of old school Nintendo beats and fun guitar hooks. It is the kind of track that makes one feel as if their head should be lit up and spinning in circles like a disco ball – strange, yes, but delightful.

Despite the interesting riffs and innovative synth beats, my main gripe with Ratatat‘s strictly instrumental music is that I feel I would enjoy it more if vocals were incorporated somewhere in their songs. Although the album has moments of true danceability, listening to it from beginning to end feels somewhat hollow, like it is missing the comforting voice of a human being.

 

Give these tracks a listen: “Shempi,“ “Shiller“

For fans of: Justice, Brian Eno

 

-Sonia Parecadan

UC to open two new medical schools

Campus Editor
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With the recent approval from the University of California Board of Regents for the planning of one new medical school and the opening of another, UC is hoping to help alleviate the severe shortage of physicians in California’s rural and minority regions.

In May, the UC regents granted final approval for the planning of a new medical school on the UC Merced campus, while UC Riverside received approval for its opening earlier this month. The the new medical schools are an attempt to close the physician gap in California’s under-served regions of the San Joaquin Valley and Inland Empire.

Though statewide, California has seen a 25 percent increase in the ratio of physicians to the population over the last 30 years, there are not enough physicians per capita in the state’s low-income and non-metropolitan areas, according to a study out of UC Berkeley’s Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare.

“The inland part of the state has the fastest growing population,” said Phyllis Guze, executive director for medical school planning at UC Riverside. “Unfortunately, the number of training sites for physicians [in these areas] are sparse, mainly because residency programs are usually affiliated with medical schools, and it has been shown that physicians tend to practice in the area where they complete their residency training.”

Another part of the problem is that, statewide, California has a low medical school enrollment rate in comparison to its large population. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, California sends more students to out-of-state medical schools than any other state.

“California lags other states by a significant margin when it comes to medical school enrollment per 100,000 population,” said Kathy Barton, director of health affairs communication at UC Riverside. “In California, that ratio is 15.6 per 100,000 and in New York, for instance, the ratio is 42.3 per 100,000. We anticipate that the new medical schools will contribute to helping improve this imbalance.”

The cost of building two new medical schools from the ground up is not feasible during the current California budget crunch, said Maria Pallavicini, dean of natural sciences at UC Merced. In light of this, both institutions will forgo building their own teaching hospitals. Instead, students will receive the bulk of their clinical training at various hospitals in the region.

“In the UC system, most of the curriculum is based on a campus teaching hospital,” Pallavicini said in a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. “We are in different times than when the existing medical schools started over 40 years ago. We are looking to leverage the clinical opportunities we have in the valley.”

In an attempt to meet the needs of their respective regions, both schools plan to focus their research on the health issues most prevalent in their areas. For UC Merced, this will mean a focus on chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes while UC Riverside will emphasize cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, emerging infectious diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and public health and health care access, Barton said.

UC Merced plans to open by fall 2013 with a starting class of 32 medical students, a number that should grow to 384. UC Riverside intends to open its doors in fall 2012 with a class of 50 students and eventually increase to 400, not including graduate students and residents.

ERICA LEE can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.

Fourth Annual Afrofunk Festival returns to the Independent

Arts Editor
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When Kenyan-born Victor Sila first came to America 15 years ago, he wanted to be a Michael Jackson or Babyface-style R&B singer. However, he was rejected by every label he approached.

“It felt inauthentic, especially with my heavy accent,” Sila said. “I was trying to be westernized, trying to do what I thought was the cool thing to do, but I was miserable and everyone else who heard me could feel it.“

Attending a concert by Senegalese singer and guitarist Baaba Maal in San Francisco changed his life.

“I was literally almost in tears,” Sila said. “There was this man singing African music, wearing African clothes. I realized I am African – what am I ashamed of? Why am I trying to be something I am not?”

This authenticity is what Liberian artist Jeremiah Kpoh, Sila‘s best friend and co-founder of the festival, sought to encourage with all the bands he chose for this year‘s diverse lineup.

“Rocky Dawuni is reggae, Afrobeat Down is Nigerian music, the B-Side Players are Afro-Cuban and Brazilian sounds mixed with funk, rock and reggae,“ said Kpoh, who is also known as DJ Jeremiah. “Everything we have is amazing and unique.“

Afrofunk music, or Afrobeat, can be described as a multilayered mix of African, Afro-Caribbean or Afro-Latino sounds with funk, rock, jazz or other forms of western music, Kpoh said.

Even those who are unfamiliar with the genre should be able to appreciate the danceable, familiar sounds of artists like Prince, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix blended with traditional African music.

Nigerian music legend and Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti has been an inspiration to a number of the bands playing at the festival, including Matthew Sargis, who is the guitarist, conductor and vocalist for Afrobeat Down, a 10 to 15 member ensemble that covers much of his music.

“I‘ve been playing and singing music basically since I was 3 years old, and as I’ve grown older I‘ve experimented with a lot of different stuff,” Sargis said. “But when I heard Fela Kuti and Afrobeat around 1997, we started playing that and it just stuck.“

An important component of Afrobeat music, Kpoh said, is the powerful political messages embedded in them, much of what Kuti popularized in the ‘70s.

“Our music, like Kuti‘s, is activist – it’s about changing the world and making it a better place, staying positive, staying in the light,” Kpoh said.

Kpoh and Sila decided that the proceeds for the festival were to benefit children in Africa. This year, the festival‘s proceeds will go to House of Hope, a Ugandan orphanage for children in the midst of famine and war.

“When I was growing I lost my parents, my father to civil war and my mother soon after, Kpoh said. “I want these children to be able to get an education, food, medications, clothes, somewhere to play – things I didn‘t have given to me that I wish I had.“

The Afrofunk Festival will be held today through Saturday at the Independent in San Francisco. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at afrofunk.org.

SONIA PARECADAN can be reached at arts@californiaaggie.com.

UCD study shows negative effects of antibacterial products

Campus Editor
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That antibacterial soap might not be so good for your health after all, according to a new UC Davis study.

A coalition of UC Davis researchers studying two antimicrobial chemical compounds – triclosan and triclocarban – found in a wide variety of hygienic products, recently published an article in Environmental Health Perspectives documenting their discoveries of the negative effects of these chemicals on reproductive hormone activity and cell signaling through studies of human and animal cells.

“Americans spend nearly $1 billion a year on these products even though recent studies show that they are no better than regular soap and water at reducing the spread of illness,“ said Daniel Chang, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering and co-author of the study in a press release. “Now we have added evidence that, in some cases, the benefits may not be worth the risks.“

The UCD study is being coordinated by the Superfund Basic Research Program – a national network created to assess the effects of exposure to environmental substances on human health – and is under the direction of Bruce Hammock, professor emeritus of entomology at UCD.

“Most liquid soaps and toothpastes sold in the nation make use of one of these chemicals,” Hammock said. “These [chemicals] were originally intended for use as surgical scrubs, where I think they are very valuable, but they don’t break down well and recently there’s been growing concern about their buildup in the environment.“

Researchers at UCD have published two additional articles regarding their analyses of the chemicals, and have found that on a cellular level in humans, there are side effects on sex hormone activity, the presence of calcium ions in nerve cells and the operation of enzyme pathways.

Ki Chang Ahn, co-author of the study and a researcher in the department of entomology and cancer research, determined that the presence of the chemicals causes an increased level of human sex hormones.

High levels of these chemicals in the body implicate the potential for the compounds to be considered as neurotoxins, the presence of which has recently been associated with increasing levels of autism, Ahn said.

On an environmental level, changes in soil microorganism populations have been documented and are currently still in the early phases of investigation by professor Kate Scow in the land, air and water resources department.

“Our studies have not shown that these chemicals are incredibly dangerous,” Hammock said. “But they have shown that the increasing presence of these chemicals and their potential effects are definitely something that society really needs to look into.“

Discoveries made at UCD have been shared with the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency, and a special session discussing anti-microbial compounds will be held at UCD in October.

“The discoveries of the potential for subtle and previously unknown health effects of these two compounds are significant,” said Chang in an e-mail interview. “They are so widely used and people are exposing themselves to them.“

Chang, who previously used both products on a daily basis, continues to use triclosan-containing toothpaste, and believes that currently there is insufficient research to show an adverse effect of the compounds on humans.

“One consideration is that, while these compounds may be of value in a hospital or clinical setting, there is little or no evidence that, as used by consumers, hand-washing products … are any better than ordinary soap and water,” Chang said.

Nationwide research into these products has been under way for approximately three years, and the FDA is expected to begin an in-depth study of the chemicals beyond the cellular level later this year.

CHARLES HINRIKSSON can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.

A new, green direction for low-income housing

Features Editor
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Amy Barr is still in shock.

She and four other students from the UC Davis Graduate School of Management were recently awarded top honors in the Bank of America 17th Annual Low-income Housing Challenge.

“It’s still pretty surreal. We were definitely the underdogs, especially since UC Davis hadn’t entered the Challenge in so many years and [had] only participated a few times … so the fact that we won was a huge victory for us,” said Barr, a 2008 GSM alumna, in an e-mail interview.

Competing against teams from the UC Berkeley, Stanford University and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, this was the first win for UC Davis.

Teams were asked to design an eco-friendly housing development project that included details of “site locations, designs, financing and community support for low-income households,” according to the GSM’s website.

Barr worked with fellow MBA students Cassie Hilder, Liz Collett, Mike Alcheck and J-E Paino and participated under the name SEED (Sustainable, Economical and Equitable Development).

Together, they created a 132-page proposal detailing a wind-powered and solar-powered low-income housing facility with 160 single room occupancy units.

The proposed building would be located on a piece of land in downtown Sacramento currently occupied by the city’s police department.

The project was in direct response to the challenges that Sacramento is facing with low-income housing units, Barr said.

So she and her teammates aimed to provide “a safe, stable and supportive environment with an economically and environmentally sustainable design,” she said.

“Each room would have a kitchenette, personal bathroom and will be furnished with Energy Star appliances and sustainable furniture and materials. There are common dining, lounge and meeting facilities available for all residents, as well as security personnel and an onsite manager,” Barr added.

A computer laboratory, 24-hour mental-health care and job placement service would also be available to residents.

The MBA students decided to form SEED after continuously encountering one another at various real estate functions, Paino said.

Each of them had experience in different areas, he said, which ultimately contributed to the creation of the project.

“[For example] I’ve been in construction for 10 years, so I knew about that and had a mentality for building,” he said. “I believe that architecture is a structural element in relieving homelessness.”

Barr’s extensive background in community development also helped; she’s been coordinating similar voluntary development projects since high school.

“I’ve always felt best when I’m giving back and really feel like I’m missing something if I don’t have some aspect of community involvement in my life,” she said.

“This project was a great way to explore one of my goals of combining sustainable development with community development in a tangible way,” Barr said.

Despite his architecture background, Paino headed the financial component of the project. He described it as “very complex” and an enlightening experience for him.

Barr said that they received help from various sources, including GSM alumni from Mercy Housing, a nonprofit organization that works in the development of affordable housing and supportive programs for people with low-incomes. The organization will, in fact, be the ones taking SEED’s proposal to Sacramento’s city officials.

“The team did a great job and showed a great understanding. They did all the work, we just showed some guidance here and there,” said Paul Ainger, a UC Davis alumnus working for Mercy Housing.

Barr said she hopes that her team’s achievement will get people to start thinking differently about affordable housing and the people who rely on it.

“Hopefully this will at least start people thinking about affordable housing in new ways. With a little creativity, it’s definitely possible to create well designed, sustainable housing for low-income individuals,” Barr said.

[The individuals] are the most important part of these projects,” she said.

 

DANAI SAKUTUKWA can be reached at features@californiaaggie.com.

UC Davis Professor Emeritus John M. Tucker dies

Features Editor
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John Maurice Tucker, a UC Davis professor emeritus of botany and world-renowned oak specialist and plant expert, died July 5 from a stroke. He was 92.

During his tenure at UC Davis, Tucker served as director of both the UC Davis Arboretum and of the J.M. Tucker Herbarium, now part of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium.

“John played a very important role in shaping the arboretum through his research which led to the establishment of the Shields Oak Grove and through his vision and leadership as director of the arboretum,” said Kathleen Socolofsky, director of the UC Davis Arboretum. “[He] was committed to the educational mission of the arboretum and excited about our plans for the future. He was always so generous – sharing his time and expertise, and funding an endowment to support the oak grove.“

Tucker’s interest in nature began as a child growing up in Santa Barbara, Calif.

“My father enjoyed camping and hiking with siblings and friends through the Santa Inez Mountains,” said Tucker’s son, Peter Tucker in an e-mail interview.

The trips led him to spend several years as a Boy Scout, which continued to fuel his passion for the great outdoors.

As a young child, he also frequented the Natural History Museum and would question the curator about where a particular plant could be found so he could go out and look for them. After a while, the curator referred him to Director Maunsell Van Rensselaer of the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens, who became Tucker’s employer and mentor.

After his high school graduation in 1934, Tucker pursued a career in forestry. However, after spending several years working as a research assistant at the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens, Van Rensselaer encouraged Tucker to pursue botany instead. He took the director’s advice and decided to study botany at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1940 and his doctorate in 1950.

While still a graduate student, Tucker was hired as the director of the Botany Department Herbarium at UC Davis in 1947, a position he held for 39 years.

He began an exchange program that allowed him to collect a vast amount of plants and put the Botany Department Herbarium on the map.

During his tenure as director, the plant archive at the herbarium increased from 9,400 to more than 250,000 mounted and unmounted specimens.

Tucker also increased the stature and importance of the arboretum during his time. He spent 12 years as director of the arboretum, from 1972 to 1984.

Warren Roberts, superintendent of the UC Davis Arboretum, said Tucker was thoroughly dedicated to the arboretum. When he wasn’t a director, Tucker was an active member of the arboretum committee and a volunteer.

“He always held a strong vision for the arboretum and never lost faith in it even during difficult times,“ Roberts said. ” His was the calm and sure hand of leadership rebuilding the arboretum‘s programs, maintaining the integrity of the plant collection and its records, and reestablishing collaborations across the Davis campus and into the community.… During his tenure, our powerful volunteer support was established and nurtured.“

“He truly laid the foundation for the current and continuing growth and excellence of the UC Davis Arboretum,” Roberts said.

Although a plant specialist, Tucker was mostly interested in the hybridization between oak tree species.

In 1962, he planted his international collection of acorns which grew into the most diverse oak tree collection in the world. Today, that collection stands in the arboretum as the Peter J. Shields Oak Grove. In 2007, the grove was added to the new Oak Group of the North American Plant Collections Consortium.

The arboretum today consists of 574 oak trees, including 17 oak tree specimens that are not found in any other oak tree collection.

Tucker officially retired in 1986, and as a gift, the Botany Department Herbarium was officially renamed as the J.M. Tucker Herbarium.

“Very few people are the director of a campus research unit or museum for 39 years,” said Ellen Dean, curator of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity. “The department felt that they wanted to do something to honor such a long term as director.“

Even after retirement, Tucker kept close ties with UC Davis. In 2001, he gave a generous donation of $500,000 to ensure the maintenance of the herbarium and arboretum.

In addition to his efforts spent in establishing the UC Davis Herbarium and Arboretum, Tucker was also a professor who taught a wide array of graduate and undergraduate courses on botany.

Tucker received many honors and awards for his work. He was the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955 and he was chosen as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the California Academy of Sciences.

In his personal life, Tucker was the proud father of three. He met his future wife Katrine “June” Peterson during his senior year at UC Berkeley. It was their mutual love of swing dance and jazz that brought the two together; they married in 1942.

His children remember him as a man full of stories about his travels and work who wanted to share his passion for plants with his family.

“Botany was his first love and primary interest throughout his life and he always shared it with us,” said his son Peter. “Some of my earliest memories are of touring through greenhouses. I was always shown the venus flytrap [and the] sensitive plant. I remember being 6 [years old] and having fun using microscopes in the lab to watch amoebas and other microscopic life.“

A memorial service will be held for Tucker at the UC Davis University Club on Old Davis Road. It is set to take place Aug. 9 at 10 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to either the UC Davis Foundation Herbarium Endowment in support of the J.M. Tucker Herbarium or to the UC Regents J.M. Tucker Endowment in Support of the Arboretum‘s oak collection. Donations may be sent to Allison Chilcott, CAES Dean‘s Office, 150 Mrak Hall, One Shields Ave., UC Davis, Davis, CA 95616.

 

APPLE LOVELESS can be reached at features@californiaaggie.com.

10 Questions

Features Editor
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Editor’s note: For this week’s 10 questions, The California Aggie spoke with Davis regional librarian Jay Johnstone, who oversees the Mary L. Stephens public library in Davis.

 

What’s it like supervising a library branch?

It’s a very rich experience. [There is] lots of satisfaction when the system works well. I like the challenge of handling both the technical and the human issues.

 

What’s something library patrons could do to make life easier for the library staff?

Bring back materials on time or contact us before they’re late. We really don’t like to charge people for late stuff. It’s just a bummer for everyone, but it seems to be the only way to provide fair and equal access to a limited resource.

 

Are there any kind of summer reading programs going on right now?

There are reading incentive programs for both children and young adults this summer, but the signup period ended in June.

 

What’s your favorite book?

I don’t have a favorite book. The books that I keep rereading are Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig and Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck.

 

Are there any books that you’re reading right now?

Brave Companions by David McCullough and several books about the exploration and features of the Sierra Nevada [Mountains].

 

What’s the most overdue book you’ve ever had someone turn in?

We’ve found stuff in the donations drop that were 40 years late.

 

Why are libraries better than your computer?

Libraries contain more than computers, including smart, well-educated, specially trained librarians who can help customers clarify their search. Libraries offer recreational reading, a form of storytelling that is difficult to experience on a computer. Libraries are also a destination to visit with friends and family.

 

How hard is it to become a librarian?

Public libraries require a master‘s in librarianship (MLS). School libraries require a teaching credential, the MLS and an internship. Academic and research libraries generally require the MLS and a second subject masters.

 

What advice would you give young librarian wannabes?

Libraries require good people skills. It’s not enough to love books. Librarians don’t get paid to sit in a quiet corner and read. There are always problems to solve that involve research and strategy, consensus-building and taking risks.

 

What’s something most people don’t know about your library?

There is a public art installation consisting of 13 inscribed bronze plaques set in the pathways. Welded to the underside of each plaque is a tuning fork. Mechanical vibrations near them activate the forms to create “silent music” which is a form of geomancy.

 

RICHARD PROCTER conducted this interview and can be reached at editor@californiaaggie.com.

Caltrans project to repave portions of I-80 underway

City Editor
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The portion of Interstate 80 that travels through Solano County is getting some much-needed attention.

The project, known as Pave 80, consists of replacing failed pavement areas, providing new asphalt concrete surface, and upgrading the median barrier at various points along I-80 between Vacaville and Vallejo.

“The 27-mile stretch has not been redone in over 50 years, so we’re giving it a facelift,” Caltrans spokesperson Marcus Wagner said.

The Pave 80 project was started in January and the main portion of work is expected to be complete by December 2009. Construction will continue on other smaller projects until 2013.

The total cost of the project is about $136 million, Wagner said.

According to pave80.com, Caltrans‘ official website for the project, the work will be divided into 12 smaller projects that are spread out over the course of the project’s time span. Construction is primarily scheduled for evenings between the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Although it will provide new driving surfaces in many areas, the project will create only one change in the mapping of lanes. Caltrans will add a carpool lane between Fairfield and Cordelia, Wagner said.

Drivers should be advised that the number four lane will be closed between Davis Street to the North Texas Street interchange to allow for work to be done until Friday of this week.

Roughly 150,000 drivers use this portion of I-80 on a daily basis, according to Caltrans, and many of those drivers are UC Davis students traveling home to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Malia Dudum, a sophomore UC Davis biology major, frequently travels home to San Francisco to visit her family. On Saturday she set out from Davis some time after 9 p.m., and ran into congestion at one of the construction sites.

“Even when I’m driving later at night there’s a lot more congestion than there would be. I would say it adds time to my trip,” Dudum said. “I got home half an hour later than usual Saturday night.“

As she was returning to Davis around midnight Sunday, she noticed a crash had occurred.

“A car went through the cones and into the center divider,” Dudum said.

While it did not look like a terrible accident, Dudum said she is more cautious than usual on the drive between Davis and the San Francisco Bay Area.

For more information on the pavement rehabilitation project, including when particular parts of the freeway are closed, go to pave80.com.

 

ALI EDNEY can be reached at city@californiaaggie.com. 

 

Debate ensues at City Council workshop on housing

City Editor
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The Davis City Council held a public workshop before its Tuesday meeting to review the Planning Commission’s updates to the Housing Element Steering Committee’s recommendations about the future of housing growth in Davis.

One of the most controversial issues in Davis politics, the subject of new building, drew a nearly packed house into the chambers two hours before the regularly scheduled meeting. Principal city planner Bob Wolcott began the workshop by giving an overview of the steering committee’s report along with changes recommended by the Planning Commission and city staff.

In April, the steering committee presented the council with its report outlining 36 potential new housing projects. The report divides development applications into a “green light, yellow light, red light” classification system. Within the green light category, the committee then ranked 20 projects based on several criteria, including how well they promote a compact urban form, if they promote walking and biking, as well as how close they are to existing facilities.

In agreement with city staff, the Planning Commission recommended doing away with the site rankings in favor of treating them as a group from which development applications may be processed first.

“Development applications should be allowed for these highest ranked sites,” Wolcott wrote in the staff report. “Although the property owners of several of these sites are likely not ready to submit applications in the near term, development status will be monitored to ensure that the 1 percent growth cap resolution is not exceeded.”

The Planning Committee also recommended moving two sites off the green light list and bumping two yellow light sites up to green.

Following the overview of the committee recommendations, each council member had a couple of minutes to speak and pose questions, during which the fundamental debate among the council about how and when to grow presented itself.

Sue Greenwald expressed her disapproval of the additional growth and questioned the logic behind building these new sites during a time of declining housing prices.

Greenwald cited data from the Sacramento Bee showing that between the first quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2008, Davis has seen a 26 percent decrease in home prices. She also pointed out that Bay Area home prices fell 27 percent in the last year.

“That’s pretty dramatic,” she said. “These are areas just like Davis that are considered higher end and immune to decrease.”

She also touched on one of the more controversial sub-issues in the growth debate about building new senior housing on the outskirts of town. The proposal to build Covell Village, a 386-acre senior living center, which was defeated by Davis voters in 2005, has been divided into three phases, the application for the first of which is currently pending approval.

“In terms of senior housing, I think we need to separate out housing that is desirable for seniors from senior-only housing complexes,” she said, referring to her idea for downtown senior housing as opposed to a secluded complex on the periphery of Davis.

Mayor Pro Tem Don Saylor was considerably more open to growth, but was uncomfortable with the idea that special attention would be given to senior housing needs when other groups are short on housing as well.

“I’m less excited about doing a study for one particular project if we don’t have it for student housing needs [as well],” he said. “I’d like to have more discussion with staff about why that housing needs warrants a special study.”

Councilmember Stephen Souza also expressed interest in conducting a study of the housing needs for all groups in town.

“I need to see an analysis of what the need in this community is so I can see empirical data instead of anecdotal data,” he said. “I think that the need should drive the type of housing rather than the location driving the type of housing.”

Mayor Ruth Asmundson discussed the necessity of growth for the health of the community.

“There has to be growth in Davis to keep us healthy,” she said. “I always have an analogy, you know, it’s like a baby. The baby is so cute, so adorable, that you wish that the baby wouldn’t grow. But if the baby doesn’t grow, then this baby will become retarded. And so it’s the same thing with the city.”

Asmundson drew criticism from the crowd of citizens waiting to speak for limiting public comment to 15 minutes and scheduling the meeting at 5 p.m. when most people are just getting off work.

“To have a controversial issue like the general plan update, which was affecting the entire community, to schedule it at 5 o’clock, when people like myself have to take off from work to get here.… This is not what our city is about,” said Eileen Samitz, a Davis resident. “Davis is supposed to be a model of democracy.”

Asmundson responded to the criticism by assuring residents that there would be ample time for public comment before the issue is decided in the fall and that the limiting of public comment was intended only to keep the meeting on schedule.

 

ALYSOUN BONDE can be reached at city@californiaaggie.com.

CITY BRIEF

City Editor
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Approved resolution accepting the California Office of Traffic Safety “Avoid the 8” continuation grant, a program intended to create coordinated regional traffic enforcement teams to provide sobriety checkpoints, DUI enforcement, public information campaigns and holiday traffic enforcement. The Davis Police Department will receive $291,404 for office overtime funding and equipment related to the program.

 

Approved resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a contract with Yolo County Visitors Bureau to provide visitor attraction services. The $40,000 contract is already included in the budget and will provide marketing, promotional materials and representation of the city in trade shows.

 

Authorized the city manager to sign an amendment to sign a subdivision agreement authorized by the Davis City Council last summer at Willowbank unit number 10.

UCD graduate students start water resources website

Campus Editor
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Graduate students from different departments at UC Davis launched a social bookmarking website in May field called WaterSISWEB, which stands for Scientific Information Syndication Websites, and is dedicated to the water resources.

Kaveh Madani, a Ph.D. candidate in civil and environmental engineering, helped create the site, along with other graduate students from various departments and people on campus.

“I started this WaterSisweb because I had the knowledge of water resources and I thought this is the best one to start with,” Madani said.

The site is an information center for water resources where users can control the content. Users can post links and share their favorite bookmarks of other sites, articles, images, media and other sources for topics relating to water.

“The difference between a blog and a book marking site is that a blog has a moderator to decide what is good and what is not,” Madani said. “Here, the users control the content. If they are interested in something, they post it there because the taste of one person may be completely different from the taste of the entire community.”

The website itself has been expanding with popularity since its debut in May. To date, users from 88 different countries have visited the site, some of the most common being the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Iran, Italy and Australia. Searches can be filtered to specific countries, states and even cities, Madani said.

Users can post links under various categories with keyword tags to allow easy search access, as well as rate links by voting for them. Popular entries are kept in the top links section while articles that are completely irrelevant or that contain false information are removed from the site.

Michael Campana, a regular user and professor from the geosciences department at Oregon State University believes allowing the content of the site to be determined solely by users does have a downside.

“I wish there were more categories and that they reflected water resources, not just hydrology and water resources engineering,” Campana said in an e-mail interview. “There are a lot of tags, but because everyone assigns their own tags the classification is often inconsistent. That’s the downside of having the users control the site.”

Campana has a blog site called WaterWired and recommends his readers visit WaterSISWEB often.

“I rely on the site mainly for serendipity,” Campana said. “Lots of ‘Gee, I didn’t know that!’ There are some things I never would have found on my own.”

Dane Behrens, also a Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering at UC Davis, is a site administrator who frequents the site regularly. He has been working with the site since its beginning and recognizes its potential.

“This site is important because it provides information on water-related topics that no other type of site can,” Behrens said in an e-mail interview. “It allows anybody who is interested to post water-related items that they find interesting – so it works really well as a forum for current news and science.”

Madani said he hopes the site will serve as a model for more scientific resource sites.

“We do not want to have something with low quality,” he said. “Not having it is better than having it with low quality. The goal is to make other SISWEBs. As soon as we have people who qualify and who are interested in dedicating their time and are credible, then we are willing to start.”

Future SISWEBs could be dedicated to electrical engineering, dentistry, transportation and climate change, Madani said. He said he hopes future teams of new SISWEBs will consist of a mix of professionals from around the world.

“We can bring the professionals and users in this field from all over the world together,” Madani said.

For more information, go to watersisweb.org.

ANGELA RUGGIERO can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.

Sacramento Art Complex: a community within a community

Arts Editor
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Before longtime art gallery owner Barry Smith opened the new Sacramento Art Complex between K and 21st streets in Sacramento, he looked up the noun “complex” in a dictionary.

“It’s an interrelated but separate [group] of intellectually creative entities,” said Smith, who has been an art dealer for 25 years. “I loved it, so I thought, ‘Hey, what if I had a gaggle of artists around me as this synergetic entity?'”

His vision became a reality in the heart of the capital with the SAC, a building featuring 25 different artists‘ studios, which celebrated its grand opening July 12.

“It’s very exciting because there’s strength,” said Carmichael painter Michelle MacKenzie, whose studio is one of the first to greet visitors of the complex. “There’s [over] 20 of us and with all that strength, it really just mushrooms upon itself. It’s truly a little artist community.“

The purpose of complex is simple, Smith explained. To people seeking quality art, a broad collection from many artists is always more appealing than a single studio with only one or two artists‘ work available.

For instance, when one of MacKenzie’s regular customers came to the complex, she also discovered Brenda Boles down the hallway and, as a result, also became a collector of Boles‘ work.

“My customers and collectors are excited to come down here not just to see my work, but my friends‘ work too,” MacKenzie said.

Boles, a longtime Sacramento artist, described the SAC as a community of artists who help each other.

“What’s really good about it is that there’s this kind of composite energy,” Boles said. “It’s an enthusiasm where you lift each other up.“

“We love working with each other because we’re used to being in our little bubbles,” said photographic artist Judith Monroe of Antelope.

“Having a chance to interact with people who are like us is exciting. In a way, it’s a little crazy trying to make a living making art. But here, I’m with a whole bunch of people who totally get it.“

The styles and mediums on display at the SAC are so diverse that Monroe considers stepping into it like “stepping into a microcosm of the world.“

One of the first studios upon entering the complex is that of Kristen Hoard, who creates organic sculptures using recycled metals. On the other end of the building upstairs, Andrew Hindman creates art with an innovative combination of oil, acrylic, photography, print and computers.

“It’s a feast of creativity,” Smith said.

One of the weekly events held by the SAC is Open Studio Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m., during which visitors can tour the studios, purchase pieces and witness the artistic process.

“We want people to realize that this is somewhere they can come when they have their weekends off because they work all day long [during the week],” Boles said. “People think the economy is bad and don‘t want to spend money now. But I think that’s when you really need all the more to surround yourself with beautiful things and something positive to lift your spirit.“

The Sacramento Art Complex is located at 2110 K St. in Midtown Sacramento. For more information, go to sacramentoartcomplex.com.

 

RAY LIN can be reached at arts@californiaaggie.com.

CD Review: Here We Stand

Arts Editor
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The Fratellis

Here We Stand

Island Records

 

Rating: 4

 

If Green Day were cool, they’d be The Fratellis. There’s only so far you can go with power chord anthems without sounding like you’re kicking a dead horse.

There’s also a certain fullness required to elevate a band’s sound to a higher level, no matter how small a band’s numbers or simple their instrumentation. Social Distortion was never able to get this right, and the White Stripes got off the train a while ago.

But The Fratellis are different – this Scottish-based group doesn’t need three guitarists or a traveling background band to reach a rich and full sound, and unlike their fellow three-man (and two-man) groups of the genre, it isn’t a chore to sit through their entire albums. With only three members and after only two releases, the group is maturing fast.

Here We Stand, The Fratellis latest June release, shows off their roots as a Scottish pub band without wearing it on their sleeves. The Scottish folk-anthem influence is apparent from start to finish, and while it isn’t as poppy as their 2007 Costello Music, it’s about as energetic as it gets.

Throughout the album there’s never really a dull moment, which really sets it apart from countless other sleep-inducing groups in the same vein. Something about their production is just plain listenable, despite its unwavering upbeat feeling (which is almost always a pitfall in other cases).

Here We Stand isn’t complicated – the chord progressions are basic and the drum lines run together. Yet somehow the band manages to pull it together in a compelling and interesting manner, with a depth that outreaches the band’s basic instrumentation and style. An occasional piano gives the album an energetic pulse, and even the slower ballad “Babydoll” is enjoyable throughout, despite the fact that it rarely changes.

Lead singer and guitarist Jon Fratelli shines throughout the album. His voice naturally fits to the music, at times sounding like a late John Lennon (Stone Temple Pilot lead vocalist Scott Weiland’s similar attempts pale in comparison). Worthy of note is his performance on the vindictive “Stragglers Moon,” a brooding Beatles-like track that could have easily come off of a modern Magical Mystery Tour.

There’s nothing unnecessary about this album. It’ll keep you awake, and it’ll keep you listening.

 

–Justin T. Ho

 

Give these tracks a listen:

Stragglers Moon

Look Out Sunshine!

 

For fans of:

Chris Brown

Miley Cyrus

 

Lyrics sidebar:

Excerpt from “A Heady Tale“

 

So steal the watch from off my wrist

Oh and shake me by the hand

We could disappear for days

And they wouldn’t understand

Gypsy blood will get you far

And they will not miss you when you go

 

Tear another hole in my brown shoes

And we can all sleep for a while

Well I told you once before I love your braces

And your hesitant smile

But please don’t get me wrong – it’s only right

That you can stamp on my heart

Well I’ve seen you and your friend some place

You know I just can tell you apart

ARTSWEEK

Arts Editor
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MUSIC

 

Italia Conte, California Medication, Athena, Infamous They, The Cosmonauts, Tiffany Smith, Vanity Shall Reap, Second to Last

Today, 6:30 p.m., $10

Club Retro in Orangevale

From the land of Roman gods they are not. Then again, neither am I and that hasn’t hurt me any. Other than Frank Sinatra, Italia Conte (“Italy Count”) has some decidedly non-Italian musical influences -Bjork, Bob Marley and U2 are included on their list.

 

Father of the Flood, Night Nurse, Audioemetic, Chopstick

Today, 7:30 p.m., $5

VOX Gallery in Sacramento

Chopstick provides Artsweek with yet another misleading cultural reference. What the band does give us, however, is an experimental composition of noise, blips and circuit effects. Father of the Flood also takes this same route with their minimal patterns of live electronics.

 

Afrofunk Music Festival

Today through Saturday, 9 p.m., $18, 21

The Independent in San Francisco

This diverse line-up of Afrobeat, Brazilian and Latin music is also a benefit concert for Uganda’s House of Hope. See page __ for more information!

 

Justin Farren, Trainwreck Revival, Be Brave Bold Robot

Today, 9 p.m., $3, 21

Old Ironsides in Sacramento

It’s a night of local talent. Like Damien Rice, Jack Johnson or that kid with the guitar that lived down the hall from you in the dorms, Sacramento’s Justin Farren has that whole romantic acoustic sound working for him as he plucks at his guitar strings.

 

The Two Man Gentleman Band, Ricky Berger

Today, 10 p.m., $3-5, 21

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen

The Two Man Gentleman Band has a certain jauntiness that makes the duo so hard to resist. Maybe it’s the awkwardly formal getups, the top hats or the fact that they give out free kazoos to the audience. The selling point for me was their shout-out to the 27th president with the song “William Howard Taft.”

 

Der Spazm, The Common Men, Mr. Loveless

Friday, 8 p.m., $5

Javalounge in Sacramento

With all the different stories behind the origins of band names, I can’t help but be curious as to how Sacramento band Der Spazm got theirs – the result of a random selection from a German dictionary, perhaps? Either way, the four-piece band has touches of Sonic Youth and Joy Division in their sound, and that’s something I can’t argue with.

 

Sean Hayashi, Neal Morgan, Casual Fog

Friday, 9 p.m., $6

Luna’s Café in Sacramento

After being charged an overdraft by my bank, getting cut in line at Starbucks and having an old lady steal my drink (isn’t there a reason they write your name on those cups?!), I found myself uncommonly bitter at the world. Luckily, the soothing sounds of Sacramento singer Sean Hayashi came to my rescue, putting me in a slightly better mood. The alliteration from this blurb also helped.

 

The Mad Tea Party, The Loose Acoustic Trio

Friday, 10 p.m., $3-5, 21

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen

As much as I love roller coasters, the spinning cup ride at Disneyland was never my cup of – oh, never mind. Bad wordplay aside, North Carolina duo Mad Tea Party will serve up a set of good ol’ fashioned rockabilly music. Meanwhile, The Loose Acoustic Trio shouldn’t disappoint as they promise “good time music for good people like you.”

 

Lucabrazzi, The Stalking Distance, We Prick You

Saturday, 9 p.m., 21

The 300 Room in Sacramento

Luca Brasi was the fiercely loyal and equally deadly “personal enforcer” of the Corleone family in “The Godfather.” Let’s see if San Francisco industrial band Lucabrazzi has the muscle to match its namesake.

 

Jeff & Vida, Pokey LaFarge

Saturday, 10 p.m., $3-5, 21

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen

Soft southern drawls, Nashville roots – I’m thinking that Jeff & Vida have all the makings of a fine bluegrass band. With songs like “Do You Like Honky Tonkin” and “Rockabilly Baby,” my suspicions are confirmed. Pokey LaFarge pays homage to old-timey mountain music with his fast fingerpicking of the guitar.

 

Cute Is What We Aim For, Ace Enders, Danger Radio, Powerspace

Sunday, 7:30 p.m., $12 in advance, $14 day of show

The Boardwalk in Orangevale

Like my love for Fall Out Boy and hip-hop of the Top 40 persuasion, Cute Is What We Aim For is one of those things that I like but am too ashamed to admit in public. The band’s sharp scenester insight (think Panic at the Disco and The Academy Is…) simply proves to be too irresistible. Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag.

 

All My Pretty Ones, The Beat Nun, Ellie Fortune

Sunday, 8 p.m., $3-5

Primary Concepts at 219 E St.

A strong presentation of sweet folk is to be expected from the man behind “Cool as Folk” on KDVS 90.3 FM. With instruments like the oboe, mandolin and glockenspiel, East Bay ensemble All My Pretty Ones have an unexpected touch to their folk stylings. The Beat Nun’s Maddy Shernock has drawn comparisons to Cat Power, and she brings a unique vintage quality to their sound.

 

Del Castillo

Monday, 7:30 p.m., free

The Quad

Take advantage of this free show, which is part of the Mondavi Center’s SummerMusic 2008 lineup. Blending Latin, blues and rock is Austin group Del Castillo. Their music was included in the soundtrack to Kill Bill Vol. 2, and Sin City director Robert Rodriguez counts himself as a fan.

 

Finch, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Foxy Shazam, Tickle Me Pink

Monday, 7:30 p.m., $18 in advance, $20 day of show

The Boardwalk in Orangevale

After a two-year hiatus, Finch is back. Post-hardcore, indie rock – whatever you may label it, I remember the days in high school when listening to Finch automatically categorized you as emo. The jet black hair dye job, long bangs and Hot Topic clothes probably didn’t help my case, either.

 

AT THE MOVIES

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Opens Friday at Varsity Theatre on Second Street

As a child, I was never too fond of the American Girl book series and accompanying dolls, but perhaps this film will change my mind. It stars Abigail Breslin as Kit Kittredge, who deals with life during the Great Depression.

 

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Opens Friday at Regal Davis Stadium 5 on G Street

Scully and Mulder are back in the second big-screen take on the classic sci-fi television series. I don’t doubt that supernatural forces are afoot, but my main question: What is rapper Xzibit doing in this film?

 

Step Brothers

Opens Friday at Regal Davis Holiday 6 on F Street

After a number of flops, I had lost all hope for Will Ferrell. But I have high expectations for this film, which stars Ferrell and John C. Reilly as rival stepbrothers turned best friends. Don’t disappoint, Ferrell.

 

COMEDY

Curtain Call at City Hall Comedy Show

Tuesday, 8:30 p.m., $5

Bistro 33 at 226 F St.

Taking the stage is comedian Mike Pace (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” National Lampoon’s Funny Money), the Aspen Comedy Arts Festival and Dave Bothun of the Sac Punch Line.

 

RACHEL FILIPINAS can be reached at arts@californiaaggie.com.

 

Editor’s picks:

All My Pretty Ones, The Beat Nun, Ellie Fortune

Sunday, 8 p.m., $3-5

Primary Concepts at 219 E St.

 

Del Castillo

Monday, 7:30 p.m., free

The Quad

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